Art Book

The bodies of work of these men provide a rich source of data for understanding the development of tastes, not only in the span of a given carver’s work, but also in the evolution of styles from masters to apprentices. A carver may begin carving slate images of winged skulls and cherubs typical of pre-Revolutionary funerary memorials and, if his career was long enough, wind up carving neo-classical willows and urns on marble, or even more three-dimensional forms that point ahead to Victorian styles.




The 2300+ images contained on the CD & flash drive are all in high resolution, and can be enlarged down to the level of individual words and letters. Where proper sun angle was not available, an off-the-camera angled flash was used to highlight the engravings in the best possible way. Over 1500 close-up images of individual letters and characters comprise the lettering-style catalog in Volume I (60 sets) and Volume II (90 sets). Gravestones were selected that (a) demonstrate an individual carver’s evolving style and repertoire; (b) are key in distinguishing the work of one carver from that of others, especially his apprentices; and (c) are particularly interesting or beautiful.